BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College football team hosted its 5th Annual Be The Match Bone Marrow Donor Registration Drive on Thursday, and the Greyhounds signed up 125 people bringing the program's total to 1,162 registrants in five years.
The football squad has partnered with the Be The Match Foundation in participating in the Get in the Game, Save a Life Program. The goal of this partnership is to give everyone a chance to join the Be The Match Registry and the National Bone Marrow Donor Program Registry.
"We are excited to continue our partnership with the Be The Match Foundation," stated Head Football Coach Jeff Pukszyn. "We have had great success over the past few years and we're looking forward to another large turnout. The Get in the Game, Save a Life program is a great opportunity to positively affect people's lives and make an impact that reaches far beyond the football field."
The ten-minute process includes filling out a medical history form and a painless cotton swabbing of the cheek. Moravian is looking for people from every background so more patients have a chance for a cure.
In 2010, Moravian registered 457 for the program including Stephanie Pezzello, a 2013 graduate and former member field hockey team. In June 2011, Pezzello was found to be a perfect match an 11-year-old with leukemia, and she had the surgery to make the donation shortly after that.
Moravian has three other students that have been matched and gone through the procedure to donate bone marrow with junior former cheerleader Rachel Knecht and junior Matt Adams each registering in 2012 and donating last year. Theresa Civitella '13 registered in 2011 and was notified she was a donor match last fall before going through the procedure.
The football program registered another 207 people in 2011, 205 in 2012 and 168 in 2013 plus today's total to reach the total of 1,162 registrations in five years.
To view a photo gallery from today's registration, visit http://moraviansports.com/sports/fball/2013-14/photos/BetheMatch14/index.
